Life Beyond Listening: The Great Revolution
by Poofable
Summary: Luka and Sophie are two opposite people from two different regions; one has lived a life of selfishness, and the other a life of hatred. When they both wake up as Pokémon, they must work as a team to conquer the grudges from their pasts and defeat Darkrai, who seeks to destroy his twin sister, Cresselia, and to become the ruler of the Pokémon world.
1. Prologue

So I've decided to completely rewrite this story from the bottom to the top, as there was so many plotholes and I never actually got around to finishing it (which made me feel awful). I strongly suggest reading my other Pokémon fanfiction, _The Passionflower, _before reading this one, as there are characters in this story that were introduced in the previous one. Also, it would give you a stronger understanding of what's happening in here.

However, reading _The Passionflower _is not necessary whatsoever, and I'll do my best to execute the world in a friendly manner while keeping up with people who are already familiar with it.

Leaving constructive reviews makes you my best friend, as I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing. Now, that does not mean I have any plans to adapt to what you want or how you think I should do things. Anyway...

**Read, enjoy, review, and share!**

* * *

**Prologue**

Arceus was the supreme overlord of the known Pokémon universe:

At the beginning of time, from between his fingertips he had weaved the very fibers of existence. The mountains rose, the seas spread green, and the stars had aligned. He had created fifty-one legendaries to help him balance the scale, and to help him govern an entire kingdom of subjects. What he said was law, and _most_ of the time he was fairly adept at outsmarting even the wisest of Pokémon.

But for the life of him, he could _not _figure out how to win a simple game of 'Go-Fish.'

"I do not understand this human game," he grumbled. He knocked the cards away, much to the amusement of the young girl sitting across the table from him. "What evil being came up with this?"

"For goodness sakes, Arceus," said the girl, a Meganium. She sighed._ "__Y__ou're_ the one who said you wanted to learn." She finger-quoted him, "You know, 'to better understand the inner workings of the human species.'"

Arceus leaned back in his chair, squinting at her. "Should you not be seeking out my new diver gents for me, Alfie? You are not…being much of a _seeker._"

_"I'm _not the one with a kingdom to rule," said Alfie, who was busy re-dealing the cards. _"__Plus_, I'm on break right now. I've been dealing with a lot of drama in my personal life, so I asked Suicune to look for the divergents for me — just this once. When she finds them, I'll be out of your hair for a few weeks. Maybe even a few months...depending on this goes."

"Then I shall have time to rest."

Alfie grinned at him. "Yes, my Lord, then you'll have time to rest. You need it."

The two were sitting at a grand table in the middle of the overlord's throne room. The long room was lined by golden columns, which were connected by beams that arched up to a center point on the ceiling, much like a dome. The floor was covered in oriental rugs and the walls were lined with oil paintings that depicted many events from Pokémon history. There were beautiful Gardevoirs on either side of the table, silently watching them play.

Arceus crossed his arms. "You seem very calm about all of this," he commented. For Alfie, nothing seemed out of place — she was smiling to herself, her movements were slow and calm, her voice was steady. He had expected her to be overwhelmed, but she seemed hardly fazed. "This is your first real job as the seeker. When you return, there is a war to be fought. And yet, you do not looked intimidated at all. Why is that?"

Alfie shrugged. "There are worse things to be afraid of," she said. Her eyes were as yellow as the columns along the wall, but much brighter.

There was loud knocking on the throne room doors. Two servants swept towards the doors and pulled them open. Suicune, the North Wind, was standing there and looking out of breath, which wasn't unusual at all. She stormed into the room, her robes and long violet hair flowing behind her. As she reached the table, she stiffly bowed to Arceus and then gave Alfie a brief, but friendly, nod.

"You have found them?" asked Arceus.

"Indeed," said Suicune. She glanced at Alfie. "It is now or never, my seeker."

Alfie stood up, the chair squeaking against the floor. "Looks like my break's over," she said. She tossed the box of cards to Suicune, who caught it with one hand. The legendary inspected the box, turning it over on its sides and reading the label. "Now you two can learn how to play Go-fish together. Where are they?"

"Well, that might be a problem," said Suicune. "One of them, the boy — he is in Kanto. He resides in a mansion in Saffron City — you will know it when you see it. The girl might be harder to obtain. She lives in Lilycove with her aunt and uncle."

"In _Hoenn?" _exclaimed Alfie, who gave the overlord an exasperated glare.

Arceus folded his hands. "There is one thing I should mention," he said, "before you head out. You are well aware how quickly this war is escalating. There is not much time to dawdle around. You must move as fast as you can. Suicune will help you with transportation, and I am sure that Epsilon will pick up one of the divergents...if you ask nicely."

"Gotcha."

"And you know how this is going to happen for them," warned Arceus. He wanted to make sure that his hand-picked seeker was prepared for the job ahead of her. "Treading the line between life and death — the Reawakening is a truly traumatizing experience. Unfortunately, we cannot wait for it to happen naturally — if you know what I am getting at. I have never been so pressed for time. So, we can consider this…an experiment."

"_Ah_," said Alfie. Silent understanding passed between the two. "Well, in that case…"

She wandered off to one of the windows and peered outside.

"Man, Epsilon had it easy," she said softly. Her predecessor and close friend, a Lucario with infinite stores of knowledge about the Pokémon world, had let her Reawakening 'happen naturally' — as if cause-of-death being 'Raging Gyarados' was natural, but hey, when she had come back to life, he hadn't had any blood on his hands.

Now here she was, wondering which was the best way to murder someone without coming off a little too strong.

**End of Prologue**


	2. The Shining Big City

I am going to try and write this more frequently with smaller chapters, like I experimented with concerning **The Original One**.

Instead of 20 chapters, which was originally planned, it may be 30-40. The chapters 1-5 have been broken down and re-uploaded.

For those who read this story before I took it down, Arc I will consist of all the chapters up until Deoxys' castle in space. Everything else will be **Arc II, the Soul of Darkrai.**

I decided to make this story a tiny bit more explicit than The Passionflower. I've grown up a little bit since I started this story. There will be more foul language and romance.

* * *

Arc I, The Heart of Cresselia

**Chapter One:**

_Inside the Shining Big City_

* * *

"I _hate_ my mother," said Luka. Though he had made the comment in a very straightforward manner, he was pretending to be preoccupied with the scenery outside of the car window. "She was supposed to get me tickets for the concert in Celadon tomorrow night, but she couldn't, just because she was _busy_."

"Oh, I understand, my father does the same thing."

Luka glared at the brunette girl sitting across the limo from him. "It's not that I'm upset about missing the concert. It's that she wasn't busy at _all_. She spent the whole weekend with that stupid Richard guy. He's just trying to get with her for our money."

The girl, Cassia, sighed and took her gaze away from the window. "Richard isn't too bad," she said, straightening her posture. "Remember when he took you and your, uh, _friends_ to the water park in Cerulean? That was nice of him. You're just being overdramatic."

_And I think you're an obnoxious loudmouth_, thought Luka. At least she was replaceable. There were dozens of other girls who would take her place as long as he had his wallet on hand and a DNA-tested relationship with his mother. But he voiced none of these thoughts.

"Whatever," he said, returning his eyes to the scenery outside of the limo.

In the morning, Saffron looked like any other city in Kanto. Even though it was called the "Shining Big City", there were no special lights once the sun hit the horizon. Luka found the whole place to be one large trap, in which there was little to no escape. For him, every day was the same mediocre routine – wake up, attend school, go home. After all, there were only so many things he could do with his mother's vast amounts of money.

_Reminder number one: As soon as we get to school, leave Cassia and find someone who's a lot more exciting. _Luka exhaled and leaned back against the seats, his arms spread out behind him. When Cassia questioned his smug appearance with one of her 'looks', he only grinned wider and tapped his fingers to the music on the radio.

The moment that the limo pulled into the school driveway, Luka swept himself from the vehicle and stood on the cement, contemplating his choices. Before Cassia could even close the door to the car, he had already left her. He heard her voice behind him, "Luka, _Luka_, wait up!"

Unfortunately, girls could run faster in high heels than he'd expected, because in mere moments, she'd caught up to him and grabbed his forearm. Mentally sneering at her, he said, "I figured you would catch up. I was just about to…"

He trailed off, his eyes wandering off in the other direction. At the entrance to the school, just on top of the concrete wall by the steps, was a girl in a green sundress. She was standing behind one of the large garden trees, keeping to herself, and waving her hands around a bed of flowers like she was conducting magic.

_What's up with her green hair? Are those flower petals around her neck_?

In the background, amongst all the noise of the other students, he heard Cassia's whine, "You know, people would like you so much more if you'd at _least_ try and respect them a little. You just walk around here thinking that you own the place and—"

_Her eyes are… _thought Luka, hardly daring to believe it when he saw the flowers bloom underneath the shade of her palms. _They're yellow._

The girl stood up and admired her handiwork, and noticed Luka's stare. When she turned around, she gave him a tiny smile and brought her finger to her lips, like, "_Shh, that's our little secret." _Then she walked away, leaving behind lush, colorful greenery in her wake.

"Luka, are you even listening to me?" demanded Cassia, shoving herself past the crowd so that she was standing directly in front of him. When he only gave a blank stare in return, she crossed her arms. "Always in another world. All you care about is your stupid neighbor and your stupid wealth!"

_My stupid neighbor?_

"Don't talk about Nolan like that," said Luka, his voice uncommonly low. He had been so distracted by the girl with the flowers that he had also forgotten his intentions to ditch Cassia. When he spoke again, he had risen to the verge of yelling, "If you _ever _say anything about Nolan again, I'll—!"

He was interrupted by the bell, and he let himself end there. As the bell continued to gong throughout the school, he gave Cassia his best glare and stormed off. He pushed himself through the halls, finding it increasingly difficult to smother the anger that was smoldering inside of him. Students that noticed his fury stepped aside, leaving him with a vacant heart on a vacant path that nobody wanted to fill.

* * *

Luka pressed the back of his head against the concrete, waiting in the shade for the heat in his body to disappear. He tilted his neck, letting the girl on his lap pull on the back of his hair. Managing to browse the internet with his phone at the same time, he stared emptily into Bella's eyes, not at all feeling moved by the hunger and desire he saw there.

"Size seven and a half?" he asked.

"You've got it, sexy," she drawled, lowering herself to his earlobe. Realizing that her performance was not eliciting a reaction, she sat back on his lap, stroking his hair and pushing it from his eyes. She looked defeated. "Is there something I'm not doing right that Cassia did?"

"It's fine. You're a companion, not a damn hooker."

Bella frowned. She glanced at his phone, then her expression lit up. "Those are the Liza Slatcher crystal peep-toes released in the spring! Wait, are they real?" She squinted. When she saw the price tag, she turned red. "Oh my—"

"If we're going to make this a regular thing, try _not_ to do that," said Luka flatly.

She pursed her lips, keeping her words restrained. "It's just that…" She trailed off, having thought better of what she meant to say. "Never mind," she added, nervously laughing.

They were nestled on the east side of the school, where the sun setting behind the west horizon could not reach them, and they were left in the quiet shade. The track and sports field were ahead. Luka tilted his head beyond Bella's so that he could see the students running, some of them alongside their Pokémon. He was even consciously aware of the belt of Pokéballs around Bella's waist. The worn leather looked horrid with her skirt.

He rested his head against the wall again, feeling a bead of sweat roll down his temple. It was too hot to be sitting here with someone on top of him.

"Come on, Luka," said Bella, easing herself back into whatever role she had adopted. Luka wasn't sure if it was working for her. She ran her fingers along his jawline and onto his lips. The painful starvation had returned to her face. "Hey, we should go back to your house."

_"Why?"_

"There's nobody ever home, right?" Her nails were digging into his ribs. "This is embarrassing — sitting behind the school like this."

Luka continued staring. He almost felt inclined to laugh with how ridiculous she was acting. "Okay, I've had enough of this," he said, standing up. Bella slid to the ground, disoriented. "Let's just — _not_ do this anymore."

"But what about—"

"Keep the shoes," said Luka, exhausted. He dusted off his uniform and shouldered his bag.

Someone shouted from the track field. Two students had started a Pokémon battle and were being surrounded by dozens of other people. Luka pensively watched them, contemplating if he would feel any degree of contentment by participating. Hypothetically, of course — he didn't own a single Pokémon anyway.

"Don't worry," he added with a sigh. "I won't tell Cassia if you don't."

**End of Chapter One**


	3. Where the Land Ends and the Sea Begins

Also decided to include Sophie's POV throughout the story. I feel like she was never included enough in the old story despite being a main character.

* * *

Arc I, The Heart of Cresselia

**Chapter Two:**

_Where the Land Ends and the Sea Begins_

* * *

Sophie lifted the sign into the air. "Homemade brownies for two dollars!" she shouted into the crowd of students. Her arms were sore. Thankfully, the weather had bestowed clemency upon the city today, and the cool breezes coming from the ocean had tempered the summer heat. "Get yourself a brownie for _two_ dollars and your generous donation will help fund the Environmental Club!"

Two students paused by the table.

"Environmental Club too?" the girl asked, smiling.

"We thought you had your hands full with Women's Rights Club," joked the boy. He nudged Sophie, as if reminding her that he had no intention of being impolite.

Sophie grinned wearily, her arms still in the air. "Yeah, but who's counting?"

"I am!" chirped Marney from behind the table, peeking her head above it to announce to the world that she was, in fact, alive back there. She was flipping through the bills she had collected. "Money, that is. We're not making as much as I had hoped. Everyone wants their stupid air conditioning."

"Maybe we should have done this in the gym or the cafeteria?" Sophie said, finally lowering her arms. She glanced at her phone, wishing desperately that she wouldn't unlock it to a brutal text from her aunt. Her notifications were unbothered, thankfully. "We can still move the tables…"

Marney wiped her forehead. "No, if we stay out here, it might drive in the point about global warming! Oh hey, Ben's headed your direction."

Ben threw his arm around Sophie's shoulders. "My two favorite girls!" he exclaimed.

She looked up at him. Marney had always contended with Sophie, her platform being that Benjamin was single handedly the most beautiful person that had set foot into Lilycove. Marney's tastes, however, seemed to swing in the opposite direction. She sought boys who were tall, dark, and handsome — who had large white smiles and large strong muscles, whose lives were scripted by filmmakers and whose transcript screamed, "University ready!"

But when Sophie stared up into Ben's upbeat green eyes, she felt unmoved.

He planted a chaste kiss on her cheek. She forced a smile. "Hi, Ben!"

"I was kidding about the two favorite girls, by the way," he said, smiling apologetically at Marney's, "_Hey!" _He inspected the table at which they had organized their set-up. "If I help you advertise, will the both of you come to my game tonight? The team loves you especially, Sophie. They'll perform better if you're around to cheer us on."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," she responded.

"Here, give me a sign then," said Ben, picking one up. He made off with it across the courtyard, shouting something about how he would dye his hair blue if the Environmental Club reached five-hundred dollars.

Marney watched him go. "You're a lucky bitch," she said irritably.

"He really is a wonderful person," agreed Sophie.

She regarded him as if he was an alien from another planet, and all of the others people around him were too. The school courtyard had become alive again with his presence. She felt a strange stirring in her chest, the kind of rousing feeling that she only felt when something was wrong. Marney's voice was faint in the background, "Well, that too. But you're missing my point." But Sophie hardly heard any of these words.

Perhaps she was the alien in this situation.

"Need a donation?" asked a man, snatching her from her thoughts.

Sophie peered into the rose-red eyes of a handsome stranger, who was much older than her — maybe nearing his thirties. She glanced back, wondering if Marney knew him, but the other girl had already turned around and was discussing homework with someone else. I wonder if he's a teacher, she thought curiously.

Tall and lithe, like a swimmer — even more so with his glistening blue hair (_blue?_), damp from what she assumed was ocean water. It stuck out in wet strands. But he didn't smell like sea salt, like so many of the swimmers who patrolled the beaches at dawn. He smelled like — _dog._

"We could use one," she said appreciatively. She held out the basket.

The man dropped a few bills. He had a knowing smile on his face that she couldn't decipher, as if he had a secret that he was desperate to tell her. "Most prestigious private school in Lilycove," he remarked, looking up at the building. "I am impressed. You are good with academics?"

He had such a strange accent that Sophie was thrown off. He spoke eloquently — slow, proper, and well-thought — like he had been raised and taught in a castle. And his voice rolled like thunder, powerful and deep.

"Decent."

"How good?"

"I was offered a full ride to over twenty universities across Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, and even the foreign language institutes in Kalos," said Sophie hesitantly. She wouldn't have offered that information if he hadn't pressed for it. "I'm in lots of clubs. I take all advanced courses. Not very interesting. There's a hundred other students at this school in the same boat as me."

"That is wonderful, Sophie. I would have gone to school in Kalos too if I had not — well, taken the path I did. I woke up one day and I was a completely different person, fell in love with a girl, and now I have a family that specializes in martial arts. And that is only the gist of it."

Sophie furrowed her brows. "How did you know my name?"

The stranger tapped his head twice. "I can read minds." Then he smiled. The sincerity in his face made her blush. "I am joking. It is written here on the sign. Sophie and Marney's Homemade Brownies, ₱2. That is your friend, Marney, over there?"

Marney was still occupied with something else. Sophie desperately tried to send mental signals to her friend, trying to influence her to turn around and make this conversation less bizarre.

"That's her," said Sophie, facing him again.

Her eyes drifted upward. Upon the man's head, she had failed to realize that there were two dark blue ears protruding straight up from underneath his hair. They were long and pointed, and they attentively rotated at the base, listening to the chaotic collection of school courtyard sounds. She had opened her mouth to say something, but the words were now slowly trailing out of her, a monotonous drone of, "_Uhhh—"_

_Well, he's not a teacher, that's for sure._

She couldn't handle the absurdity of this conversation any longer. "Hey, Marney—" she began falteringly, grabbing her friend's hand.

But when she had pulled Marney over to meet the strange man, he had disappeared into the Lilycove wind, either imagined or undetected. She stood there with her arms limp at her side, the memory of his presence and outlandish mannerisms already fading. When she glanced down into the donation basket, his money was still there.

Sophie hoped there would be something else. A vague note. A clue that she could pursue. But the mysterious man was gone with no remaining traces. For a brief moment, she had been able to forget her life — the Environmental Club, Ben, Marney, her aunt and uncle, and even this silly private school.

She stared out across the sea, disappointed that —_ wherever_ the man had gone — he had not taken her along with him.

**End of Chapter Two**


	4. The Boy in the Apartment

more manageable chapters _wheeeee~_

* * *

Arc I, The Heart of Cresselia

**Chapter Three:**

_The Boy in the Apartment_

* * *

"I'm walking home today," said Luka into his cellphone. "You can take Cassia home, but make sure that she knows that's the last favor I'm ever doing for her. If you see my mother, tell her that she should be expecting me around seven."

And then, beneath his breath, he added, "Not like anyone will see _her_ for the rest of the night."

He shut the phone and began to descend the front steps to the school, his hands in his pockets and his eyes set on somewhere far off in the distance. He could see his house, built with red bricks and white columns, from those stairs. The large home stood out between the leaves in the treetops, and because it was sitting on an enormous hill that seemed to stretch out towards the sky, it looked like a castle from where he was standing.

He still felt disgusting after his brief encounter with Bella. The shoes weren't of any importance, but he could still smell her perfume on his neck. He wanted to go home, shower, and hide under his covers for the rest of the night.

Luka sighed heavily, and then he began to fiddle with a coin in his pocket as he went down the sidewalk.

_I'll probably be eating dinner alone tonight, _he thought.

A classmate, a girl from his third hour, crossed his path. Her face brightened when she saw him.

"Hey — Luka!" she exclaimed, running towards him with an armful of flyers. "Do you think you'd be interested in the Mathletes Club? You know, since you're so good at math and you used to tutor calculus and all. Our attendance is running short this year, and maybe if _you _were to show up, we'd—"

He pushed her aside, not physically but with the strength of his irritated stare. "Don't even bother," he said curtly, looking away so that nobody would see them making eye contact. "I'm busy anyway. My — my mother wants me to organize some files for her."

"Oh, I understand, with her business and all," said the girl, her face falling. He couldn't remember her name, but he did know that she was the only one who seemed naïve to his curt attitude. Obliviously, she continued, "Well, if you ever find the time, we'll be waiting for you. We could win nationally with your smarts."

_I remember the day that my mother left my father. She didn't think that he had enough potential. She had the money and the business charisma, and he was only a writer. He wasn't good enough for her. _When he walked away from the girl, purposely ignoring her disappointment, he bit his lip. _And now I'm not good enough for her either. If I joined the Mathletes, she'd only wonder if I'm trying to ruin her reputation._

As he walked, Luka felt that his mind was distanced from him. He could hardly focus on where he was walking, let alone who was standing in his way or what obstacles he might have faced. Between the warm pavement and the afternoon sun, the heat of Saffron City was both overwhelming and blinding. He was almost staggering along, searching for somewhere to be.

Before he realized it, he was standing before an apartment complex. The building was untouched by the daylight warmth, because no matter where the sun was, there were enough trees around it to keep it away from the light. Nothing was broken, but everything was close to falling apart, and compared to Luka's home just up the hill, the complex looked like an abandoned shack.

Luka craned his head back and stared into one of the gray windows, as if he could see the room behind it. Then he leaned down, picked up a smooth pebble, and tossed it at the pane. The window tittered for a second, shaking from the impact, and then it opened. What was revealed was a small face, surrounded by brown hair, dappling freckles and colorful blue eyes.

_All you care about is your stupid neighbor and your stupid wealth!_

"Let me in," said Luka, unaware of the affection in his voice for only a moment. "There's no way that I'm climbing in through your window."

The boy at the window grinned and momentarily disappeared. Luka waited patiently, listening to the sound of the wind in the trees and the silence that followed afterwards. There was a loud buzzing at the front door to the apartment complex, and then he strode forward and walked inside.

Like the outside of the complex, the interior of the building was empty and filled with only echoes. As he ascended the stairs to the boy's room, he kept one hand on the concrete wall and the other on the brass railing. For a moment, there was nothing to hear but the noise of his footsteps, but then there was the sound of knocking at the boy's door, and finally the sweet click of the locks turning.

"Luka! I thought you weren't going to come today!"

"Of course I was, Shinx," said Luka, ruffling the boy's hair as he entered the room. He had called Nolan that name for years, because of the lick of hair on his head that always stood up, no matter how many attempts his mother made to smooth it over. "I'm sorry that I was late. I told my chauffeur to leave me at the school, so I just walked here." He glanced around the seemingly empty apartment and asked, "Are your parents here today?"

Nolan shook his head, replying, "No, my dad had something come up at work, and my mom just went to the grocery store. She'll be back though." He gasped, as if a revolutionary idea had stricken him, and he started doing a dance in place. "Maybe you can help us make those chocolate-chip cookies!"

"I'll think about it." Luka collapsed on one of the couches, allowing himself to smile as the child catapulted from his spot and onto the seat next to him. "Thing is, if my mother comes home tonight, I'll have to be there. If she does, I wish it could have been any other night. You know that I don't get to see her as often as you get to see your mom."

"Yeah, I know," said Nolan. "My mom doesn't have a job like yours does, though."

Luka smiled again, this time wider than the last. "That's right," he said. "My mom is out making us money so that we can eat and have nice things. Your mom is here, taking care of you so you can be healthy again. That's why I come by as often as I can – that way she can have some days to go out too. I bet, though, whenever you get your own Pokémon, you'll be all better again."

Nolan's parents had been insisting that the child wasn't old enough for his own Pokémon yet. They believed that every boy's first best friend shouldn't happen until the ten-years-old checkpoint. Nolan was several months short, and that was all he had been talking about for the last couple of weeks.

"They'll probably get me some sissy, girly Pokemon," said Nolan, pouting. "Like some stupid Magikarp or Vulpix. I want something big and strong and mighty, like on Pokémon League TV!"

"Don't you know? Magikarp evolves into the mighty Gyarados, whose roar can shake the world!" exclaimed Luka, waving his hands around dramatically. There was already an excited grin on the child's face. "And Vulpix? Well, she evolves into the beautiful Ninetales, whose powers over fire can burn any foe!"

Nolan jumped up and down on the couch, nearly bashing in the ceiling with his head. Suddenly, he began to violently cough and wheeze. Luka startled forward to help the child, but Nolan only pushed him away with his frail arms. When he looked up again, he was ashen.

"L—Luka," he managed to say through his coughing, "if you know so much about Pokémon, how come you don't have any of your own? Everyone I know that's as old as you has one."

_I remember that my father, in that small apartment that we lived in, had a Golduck. Most of the time, we just let him roam around outside, since we lived by the forest and some ponds. I think that he loved Pokemon more than anything – not as much as me and my mother, but he was obsessed enough. He would tell me everything about them, from legends to true stories to facts. Those tales were the best things I've ever heard._

"I've never really thought about it," lied Luka, looking for something to do with his nervous hands. He sighed, wishing that he could have given his little friend a straightforward answer, and then he said, "Nolan, would you like a story that I heard when I was your age? It's about a king and a monster."

Nolan, who was as skeptical as ever, said, "Is it a true story?"

"I don't think so, but it's definitely the best fairytale that I've ever heard of," said Luka. Once the boy gave him an approving look, he began, "Once upon a time, in the Pokemon world, there was a mighty ruler. He served his people faithfully, making sure that they were the happiest that they could be. He was strong, loving, handsome, and brave, and _everyone_ loved him."

Nolan gave another cough. He leaned against the arm of the couch and listened attentively.

"He was strong, in fact, that there were many bad guys that were looking to take his power, but he fought and won against all of them. However, even though his rule was going perfectly, he began to wonder if everyone truly loved him like they said they did. He got scared of his own people. And then one day, there appeared a villain who was more evil than any of the others."

"Uh-oh," whispered Nolan, widening his eyes. He tugged at Luka's arm, asking, "So what happened? What happened?"

"This villain, who was so bad and so evil that even the _other_ bad guys were afraid of him, made the king sick and tried to take over his body." Luka still loved listening to the story, even though he was already seventeen and was the one who was telling it. "The king got so sick that he couldn't even rule his people anymore, and they started to lose trust in him."

Nolan clambered all over the place, and because he was Nolan, Luka allowed it. "That's awful," he declared, sitting halfway on Luka's shoulders and halfway on the back of the couch. He did a tumble down to the seat, his blue eyes big with sympathy. "I don't know why any villain would want to hurt a king like that."

"I don't either."

"I don't think I want to know the end of the story," said the child. Abruptly, he yawned, and then he began to sleepily rub his eyes. "I think that I'll just dream about it when I sleep, and I'll tell you what happened in the end."

That was a tradition they had shared since the day Luka started telling Nolan stories.

Luka watched as Nolan began to grow increasingly exhausted, and then he gently picked up the child so that he could carry him to the bedroom. He laid Nolan down on his bed, which was surrounded by at least a dozen or so Pokemon plushies and action figures.

Then he softly said, "I hope that you dream about the happy end, kiddo."

When Nolan only gave a murmured response, Luka left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Just as he was picking up his school bag, the front door opened and in walked Nolan's mother, whose shadowed eyes and pale hair made her look older than she really was.

"Oh, Luka, hello there," she said, shutting the door with her shoulder as she slipped her heels off. She gratefully handed him one of the grocery bags she was holding, and he wordlessly took it to the kitchen counter. Noticing the closed bedroom door, she asked, "Has Nolan already fallen asleep? I brought him a refill from the pharmacy. I was hoping to catch him before he knocked out."

"He was all jumpy one minute and then asleep the next."

"It's so hard to keep him awake nowadays," his mother said. "He must sleep about sixteen hours of the day, if not more. I have a difficult time getting him to wake up so that he can eat." She regarded Luka strangely, and then she added, "Funny that he always wakes up just so that he can see you. Maybe I should hire you to stay here all day long."

Luka paused, his hand hovering just over the front doorknob. "I would if I could."

"Yes, I know," she sighed, giving him another odd look. Just before he opened the door to leave, she stopped him and said, "Luka, thank you. I know that you are so busy with your schoolwork and everything, but it really means a lot to him that you stop by every day. I wish that I could there for him like you are."

Luka kept his eyes averted, suddenly feeling very cold and lost again. "I used to know someone like him," he said quietly. "I just don't want him to end up the same way that person did."

With those words, he left the apartment complex.

_She's here again._

The yellow-eyed girl was standing in the street below, between two parked cars and some rose bushes. As he stood there, on the second-story balcony, only having the wind to listen to again, he trembled and clutched at the railing. His head said that she was only someone who was out to get a hold of his mother – a news reporter, perhaps.

His heart said she was more important.

Once he reached the street level, she had already vanished.

_She's part of the paparazzi, I bet, _thought Luka. He stood in the middle of the street, exactly where she'd been, turning in all directions and trying to find out which direction she'd gone.

The only that she had left was the faint aroma of flowers and sweet perfume.

**End of Chapter Three**


	5. The Place Not Called Home

god this rewrite is tedious

* * *

Arc I, The Heart of Cresselia

**Chapter Four:**

_The Place Not Called Home_

* * *

Sophie's fingers clutched the cold railing, her heart beating so loud that she thought she might have heard it echo in the staircase. After facing the humidity and heat since that morning, the air conditioning was both welcoming and ominous. She could hear her aunt yelling, even from the floor below, over the sound of the fan.

"Evening, Sophie," said her upstairs neighbor. He was headed downstairs with a raincoat and an umbrella in hand.

"Hi, Richard," she replied, a little breathlessly. She had been absorbed by her thoughts. "Why do you have an umbrella? There wasn't a cloud in the sky when I was walking home."

"Oh no, it's definitely going to rain," he said. "My Castform has been changing forms all day, simply going nuts. She looks excited. She doesn't get that worked up unless we're in for a torrential downpour." He tapped the brim of his hat. "Just be careful if you go outside tonight."

Sophie nodded slowly, feeling like this surreal conversation, unlike most of the other small talk that she and Richard shared, was part of a dream. She watched him walk down the rest of the staircase, listened to the echo of his boots on the steps until she heard the doors slam shut.

Her mouth felt dry. She mustered the courage to walk to her front door, as she had for years.

But it never got any easier.

She closed the door as quietly as she could and tiptoed through the halls. The house was impeccably clean, but there was a bitter stench in the air, and the television, as usual, was much too loud with the sounds of a random game show. The family Meowth was lounging on a shelf, his tail hanging lazily over the edge as he slept in the late afternoon sun. He gave half of a "_Mraow"_ in greeting.

If she could make it to her room unnoticed, then she could possibly have the rest of the evening for herself. She had spent nearly an hour furiously jotting notes in her agenda. Ask if the scholarships would cover her travel expenses to Kalos. Buy the plane ticket. Speak with a lawyer. Turn eighteen. Turn eighteen. Turn eighteen. Hundreds of things to do, and little power to do them.

Legal adulthood couldn't come soon enough. She had beat the walls of her bedroom late at night, angrily wondering why children could travel the world with their Pokémon and she wasn't even old enough to lawfully obtain her parent's inheritance money. All because of —

"Sophie," came her aunt's strident voice from the kitchen. "I saw you walk in. Come here, please."

Sophie internally groaned. Ben and Marney had invited her to ice cream before the football game tonight, but she had hoped to nap before leaving. All attempts to cover her tracks forgotten, she tossed her backpack into her room and went to the living room, seeking her aunt.

Her aunt was sitting at the kitchen table, a cloud of obsidian smoke floating around her face. Her frail arms held a magazine that looked bleached and ripped at the corners. "Why are you home so late?" she asked, flipping a page.

Sophie's neck tensed. "I went to Literature Club," she said. "We read Dickinson in groups today."

_There is another sky..._

"Which club is that?"

_Ever serene and fair..._

"The one where we read books and poetry," said Sophie stiffly, "and we talk about what we've learned."

_And there is another sunshine..._

"Hmm."

_Though it be darkness there._

Sophie tried to pretend that her legs were made of stone, and that they were permanently planted into the ground. Imagining that her heart was hard as marble was the only thing that carried her through these after-school conversations. Her aunt cared little for her academics or extracurricular activities. Plus, she smelled awful. But stone never breathed — it never needed to. Sophie had to tell herself that, as ridiculous and childish as it sounded.

She stood there, aching inside. "Can I go to my room?"

"Where's the money?"

Sophie braced herself further. "What money?"

"I know that you went to Marney's last night to make those brownies," said her aunt, who finally looked up from the magazine. She gave the paper a loud shake. "That was for some fundraiser, wasn't it? How much did you make?"

Sinking into the depths of the ocean would have felt better than this. Sophie felt a familiar fever behind her eyes, an unrelenting heat. But as she had done hundreds of times before, she planted those legs and became a statue. A dead-eyed, concrete statue.

"Six-hundred dollars," she muttered, remembering how Ben — her wonderfully innocent boyfriend, Ben — had bet the entire courtyard that he would dye his hair blue. And knowing him, he probably would. Her lip quivered. "I won't give you the money. We were going to donate it to the Lilycove Botanical Gardens."

Her aunt narrowed her eyes. "You mean you've got six-hundred dollars in your pocket and it's not in my possession."

_Not entirely correct,_ thought Sophie, her face warming up. She felt mad. Horribly and irreversibly mad. _The school will catch me embezzling. They'll catch me, and they'll know I've been doing this for months. I'll be expelled, and I'll never leave Hoenn. I'll never get to Kalos._

"I'm not going to give it to you," she repeated, firmer that time. Her heart hatefully beating, she dared to venture further. "I don't need my parents' inheritance for university anymore. I received scholarships. And as soon as I graduate, I'm leaving. So I won't be giving you money anymore."

Her aunt considered these words with an ugly sneer. She stood up, her chair screeching on the cheap hardwood floors, and made her way to Sophie, who she then mercilessly slapped across the face. Sophie bit her lip, tears freely running. Through her blurred vision, she looked outside and saw the Taillows in the garden. They sung and flapped their wings.

_There is another sky..._

"You won't?" her aunt asked. Then she slapped Sophie again. "What about now?"

_Ever serene and fair..._

Sophie trembled. "I—"

_And there is another sunshine…_

SLAP.

_Though it be darkness there._

She suppressed her cries, wondering if she could ever be smacked so fiercely that her eyes could be dislodged and roll from her head. "I don't have it either way," she whispered, wondering even more passionately if her aunt's eyes could be removed by force. "I left it at the school in the student council lockbox."

"Then you will go get it," said her aunt, enunciating each word. She took a tremendous inhale of her half-burnt cigarette, her expression unchanging. "Leave. _Now._"

Sophie remained a fallow shell. Then she clenched her fists, and miserably shuffled to the door.

She reached out for an umbrella, hazily recalling Richard's warning. But for some reason unknown to her, she withdrew her hand and left it.

If the rains were to come, she would welcome them.

**End of Chapter Four**


	6. Luka's Reawakening

Finally getting back on track! But adding in Sophie's story is what's really making me exhausted. I just knew that her word had to get in though.

* * *

Arc I, The Heart of Cresselia

**Chapter Five:**

_Luka's Reawakening_

* * *

Of course, his mother hadn't come home the previous night, and so, in the morning, the mansion was as empty as ever. There was no reassurance in the towering ceiling or the chandeliers, and even though he had walked down the marble staircase thousands of times, Luka couldn't help but feel like that particular instance was lonelier than the others.

"The limo is ready for your departure, sir," said the chauffeur, respectfully nodding his head as Luka descended the last set of stairs.

"Just so you know, we aren't picking Cassia up this time," said Luka, fixing his school uniform. He glanced at his reflection in one of the china-dresser mirrors, hoping that, for just this once, he wouldn't see his own platinum blonde hair and bright, bronze eyes. His own face had become a stranger to him. "Nor will we be picking her up ever again. If she calls, don't bother answering either."

"Sir?"

Luka strode past the man and into the outside, inhaling sharply as he was greeted by a rare cool breeze. "I think that she's been taking advantage of our rides. Besides, she lives close to the school. She can walk."

"Two miles is not exactly_ close_, sir."

Luka pressed his lips together so that the chauffeur wouldn't see his smile. "Oh, well," he said very nonchalantly, as he always did. "I hope she left a little early then."

That particular morning, Saffron looked more suffocating than usual. The thin veil of smog that was curling above the buildings gave Luka the impression that the city was really like an unavoidable trap. Without his and Cassia's stiff conversation to fill the silence, the atmosphere of the limo was calmer. But it didn't feel any better than it had yesterday.

Certainly not any less lonely.

He played with his phone, pressing random buttons so that his chauffeur would at least think he was messaging someone, even though he wasn't. By the time they had driven down the road, he had bought himself five new designer tees and a pair of shoes for good measure. Looking at the reflection of his eyes on the 'Thank you for your purchase' screen always gave him a temporary rush of happiness.

When there was a slight pattering at the glass window, he glanced upwards and saw that it had begun to rain. In the distance, the sound of thunder curled across the city skyline. The sky was stirring beyond the ring of mountains surrounding Saffron.

As the limo pulled into the school, Luka couldn't avoid the sense of foreboding he had.

Luka grabbed his books and walked. He navigated the halls. He said good morning to a pretty girl that he had never seen before. He made sure to snatch her number before his reputation could reach her ears first. He went up the stairs. None of this felt peculiar, not even a smidge — and that was the most disconcerting thing above all.

Standing in front of his locker, he fiddled with the combination. When he opened it, a small piece of paper, which had been lodged in the corner, floated down into his hands. He glanced around the halls, seeking the note's author in the crowd of students. He saw rain-beaten hair, heard resounding laughter, and felt the heat of hundreds of people closing in on at him, all at once, but nothing was different — perceivably, at least.

❤ **_Meet me on the roof!_** ❤

Luka's face flattened. No girl that he had ever played with would be caught dead 1) on the roof, or 2) in the rain. "What a fucking joke," he muttered, feeling more tense and upset than usual.

But he went.

The rain had lightened to a mere drizzle. The dark stormclouds were still far in the distance, almost as far as Johto, Luka presumed. He walked up the rattling fire escape to the roof. The bell had rung already, and he was going to be late for class. Nevertheless, he persisted, making sure walk, breathe, and to think calmly, in hopes that his leaden heart would hush its clamor.

"Alright," he said as he stumbled onto the roof, legs aflame, "is this some kind of..." He trailed off.

The yellow-eyed girl was standing at the edge, only centimeters from stepping over and into her death. Her hands were folded behind her back. With the wind all around them, her dress and hair were swaying to the side like the tendrils of a willow tree.

"You've been following me," stated Luka. He clenched her note, now damp and crumbling, in his hand. "You haven't been sneaky at all."

"I wasn't trying to be unseen," said the girl breathlessly, grinning like she'd just been on the wildest ride of her life. "You're Luka, right? Luka Montgomery. I've seen you in the news before! I thought your name was familiar…"

"Oh, please!" snapped Luka. "What is it that you want? Money? A crazy story that you can publish in the news about me and my mother?"

"I don't want anything like that."

Luka noticed a shimmer in her hair, and he saw that there was a glass iris that shined different colors, pinned to her bangs. When she caught his eyes on the iris, her hand flew to her hair and she touched it gently, as if it reassured her.

"I'm not here for your wealth or some article about your family," she said. "I'm here to get _you_."

"You want me?" Luka stepped closer to her, threatening her with his cold stare. She didn't seem intimidated by his glares at all. "Is this some stupid kidnapping thing? Just so you know, my mother and the authorities would search the ends of the world to get me back."

"Oh no, it's nothing like that," she said, laughing like she knew something that he didn't. "Nobody will even know that you're gone. Actually, they will...but that's beside the point...If we were in any other time period but this one, I would give you a rundown of what's about to happen. An itinerary. But I don't have time for that."

_Nobody will even know that you're gone._

Luka's stomach was hurting so bad that he could barely form words.

"You're going to kidnap me," he said, immediately scanning for some kind of escape.

"L_uka,_ I'm not kidnapping you," said the girl, her voice exhibiting clear exasperation. "Look, I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Like I mentioned, I've got a deadline right now—"

The lightning across the mountain range had intensified, and the thunder had turned from a rumbling growl into a sharp crack. The echo reverberated throughout the valley. For a brief moment, the girl's words were lost to the noise.

"—If you're anything like you're supposed to be, you're someone who isn't meant to be in this world. Do you understand? You belong somewhere else...the place where I live."

"Meant to be in this world?" said Luka. "What do you mean by that — not in this world? I don't belong anywhere else but here. And even if I wasn't supposed to be here, I sure as hell wouldn't need to be where you come from."

The girl wore a very serious expression. Her following words came forcefully. "Luka, have you ever thought that you were supposed to be born in another time and place — like you just don't belong here? Have you ever suspected that you were born for something greater?"

Luka couldn't tell her that, because then he would be agreeing with her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," he said, sounding hesitant. "I told you, I'm meant to be here. I have things to do, people to take care of."

His thoughts shifted to memories of Nolan.

"That's not what your fate says," said the girl. She stepped down from the edge of the building. "In fact, it says quite the opposite."

"Now you're going on about fate and all of that." Luka stumbled backwards as she got closer to him. She was much shorter than him, by at least three quarters of a foot, but that didn't mean she wasn't at all intimidating.

"Luka, I'm here for one purpose only," she said, stopping right in front of him. "I know that you want to run away right now, but aren't you even the slightest bit curious? Don't you even want to try and see what's in store for you? If you just listened to me, I promise that you'll open the doors to the greatest adventure of your whole life."

"An adventure?" Luka stuttered. He dared not believe it. He doubted he could stand one more night in his vacant mansion, without anyone to talk to or anything to do. "As — as if. And so what, even if you were telling me the truth, what would I have to do to go on this adventure?

The thunder snapped. The lightning split the sky. The wind roared.

_CRACK._

The girl's face shined, like she was under a spotlight. And then, her next words:

"You have to die."

And then she reached out and pushed him from the top of the building.

**End of Chapter Five**


	7. Sophie's Reawakening

back on track yessss

* * *

Arc I, The Heart of Cresselia

**Chapter Six:**

_Sophie's Reawakening_

* * *

With convulsing hands, Sophie tearfully unlocked the safe. She prayed that divine intervention would clear her memory, make her forget the combination, or strike her where she kneeled. But, as she had learned since her parent's accident, fate was never so kind. Otherwise, she would have never moved in with her aunt and uncle, and then she wouldn't be in this situation.

She took the bag of bills that Marney had placed there earlier. Until this moment, she had never been so careless. There had been dozens of methods she had used in order to sneak the money to her aunt without getting caught — but signing in the money, leaving it in the safe under another student's close watch, and then taking it without exercising any other precautions was pure recklessness.

Sophie would be caught this time.

She knew it when she picked up the ziploc bag. She knew it when she left the safe wide open. And she most certainly knew it when she walked out into the hallway, the keys to the school hanging from her hands. Keys given to one of the most trustworthy students: the president of five clubs, the predicted valedictorian for graduation, the star student with the scholarships.

When she got outside, she stood under a metal sheet by the door. She had come into the school dry, but she would arrive at home soaked. The rain, as Richard had said, fell down from the skies, unrelenting and cold. She could see the ocean from where she was. The white waves crashed along the seashore, overpowering the sound of the occasional car that drove past.

She could have stayed there forever in that blissed tranquility.

Opening her phone, she checked her messages:

**GROUP: Ben! , Marneyyyy :***

**Ben! **_(6:24 p.m.) _: helleeeerrrrr Sophie cakes

**Marneyyyy :* (**_6:34 p.m.) : _Game starts at 7:30! Where are you?!

**Ben! **_(6:35 p.m.) _: babe for real do you need a ride, cause we can get you

**Marneyyyy :* **_(6:46 p.m.) _: Is she ignoring us, cause I think she's ignoring us.

**Marneyyyy :* **_(6:49 p.m.) _: I bet she's taking a nap.

Her thumb hovered over the power button.

**Ben!**

_(6:50 p.m.) _: For real tho Soph, are you ok? Marney tried to call but no answer. Let us know ASAP

Sophie shut her eyes, willing her tears to disappear. She hiccuped out a sob and covered her mouth. Feeling foolish, she wiped her face and waited under the sheet. Maybe if she stood there long enough, a solution would arise. A permanent, world-changing solution that would change the entire course of her life.

She looked at the ziploc bag, which encased the six-hundred dollars she had just stolen. Her fingers left humid prints on the plastic. Blankly, she stared at it. By some weakness on her part, she had allowed herself to go this far. She desperately tried to suppress the unbridled rage in her chest — rage for her aunt, rage for her foolishness, and ultimately, rage for herself.

"I hate this," she whispered.

A sudden chirping caught her attention. A small Starly was perched on the courtyard tree, trilling and singing. She glanced upward, startled. It sat on the tip of a branch and fluttered its wings. When it looked at her, it tilted its head back and forth, cooing a pretty song into the rain. Then it flew off into the gray sky.

Sophie's breaths slowed.

She needed to stop pretending that she was made of stone. For seven years, she had planted herself into the ground and refused to be swayed. Because of that, she had never left this place. She had always told herself, "Leave for school. Leave when it's time." But the time would never be right if she kept herself rooted. Something would always hold her back if she kept giving herself excuses.

"Like a bird," she said softly, her eyes widening with realization. "Not like stone."

Sophie dropped the ziploc bag to the ground and ran into the rain, her shoes splashing through the puddles. Within seconds, she had been soaked through her clothes and to the bone. She sprinted through the school courtyard and into the street, across the path of cars, onto the sidewalk, and down the block.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Someone was calling her. Without even checking who it was, she reached for it and turned it off, then kept running. She ran past a woman with her Snubbull, around a couple holding hands, and beyond who she thought might have been her neighbor, Richard, but she couldn't have been sure.

The entire run, she cried. She couldn't stop.

When her legs finally quit working, she stood panting in front of the Lilycove train station. Her shoulder rose and fell. Her breaths became mist in the cold. Then without knowing where she wanted to go, she entered in a befuddled stupor, hoping that she would know by the time she got to the platform.

She had bought her ticket with the few dollars in her wallet, but jumped over the turnstile anyway, and then she had wandered through the subway station, listening to the sound of the trains behind the shaking, advertisement-plastered walls. The lights above her flickered on and off. The people around her moved like they had purpose. She did too — she just had no idea where to direct it. Then she finally stood at the edge of the platform, her hands clutching at the edges of her dripping dress.

She waited patiently.

"Going somewhere?" asked a man next to her.

Sophie didn't take her eyes off of the advertisement directly in front of her. She saw a beautiful Altaria, its wings made of clouds, soaring through the sky. Directly below it, words were scripted: _Tired of paying for travel? Adopt a Flying-type Pokémon from the Lilycove Adoption Center! HM Fly available for extra ₱300!_

"I'm not sure yet," she said honestly, offering a half-assed shrug. "Anywhere but here."

"Are you unhappy in Lilycove?" he asked. "Don't you have a family?"

Sophie looked at him, incensed by his prodding. His voice was so familiar. Then she saw, below his sodden hat, a welcoming face and red eyes, diluted by the shadow of his raingear.

"You're…" she said, suddenly wide awake. She felt compelled to answer him. "My family has been gone for a long time," she said with more clarity. "The one I live with now...they're not mine. I'm not theirs. We don't belong to each other. So I'm leaving, hopefully forever."

The platform had started shaking. The cold air beneath the ground had become more and more restless. She had heard the train from deep within the tunnels.

"Well, I suppose that makes things all the easier," the man had quipped.

Sophie had looked away, only for a brief moment, to watch the train's headlights illuminate the subway. And when she had turned back around, she was already falling. Her purse, which would have carried her only belongings for a long time, was still strapped to her side. Her hand, without money for financial security or food for her to eat, held her one-way ticket to wherever.

The wind from the train had ripped the man's hood from his head. She saw his ears, like she knew she would. Out of the corner of her eyes, in a dimension of nonexistent time, she observed the train barrelling towards her. Funnily enough, the only thought that crossed her mind was: _Looks like I'm not making it to that game tonight._

But afterward, in the dark embrace of unconsciousness or sleep or death, she had time to think about lots of things, just like that. So...she thought that. She thought about it over and over. And she guessed she was dead. She also guessed that this was the great adventure that had been in store for her. She had known there _was _one.

She just didn't know it would be so…permanent.

**End of Chapter Six**


End file.
